The Egyptian government declared a three-month state of emergency, three days of mourning and increased security following attacks on two Coptic churches in northern Egypt on Palm Sunday.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks, in which 49 people died and scores were injured.
First bomb
The first bomb was detonated inside St George’s Church in Tanta, 120km to the north of Cairo, where the bomber evaded security, killing 27 and wounding 78, according to the Ministry of Health.
Abanoub Gamal, a member of St. George’s Church, Tanta said: ‘I was standing behind the back pews, next to the church door. At about 9.05am I noticed a man wearing a brown jacket enter the church and walk among the pews from the back to the front … [He] stood in front of the church altar and he then exploded himself.’
Mr Gamal continued: ‘Then there was a huge explosion, the lights went off, all the people screamed, the situation was terrible. The church was filled with the bodies of the dead, body parts and the injured. Blood was splattered all over the place and reached the church ceiling.’
Families, children and deacons were reported to have been amongst the casualties. In the immediate aftermath, people rushed to mosques to donate blood. The victims were buried in the church grounds later that evening, following autopsies. The Easter Day celebrations at the church were cancelled as a mark of respect to the families affected.
Second bomb
A few hours later, 17 people died and 48 were injured when a bomber detonated a device after being prevented from entering St Mark’s Cathedral in Alexandria, where the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church Pope Tawadros II was conducting the Palm Sunday service. The casualties included four police officers, three of them female, who had intercepted the bomber.
Pope Tawadros told local television that ‘sinful acts will not undermine the unity and coherence of the Egyptian people in the face of terrorism’.
Many lives saved
Eyewitnesses said the suicide bomber tried to enter the church as worshippers were leaving. Mina Makram,a member of the congregation, said one of the cathedral’s guards, a man named Nasim, ‘stopped him, prevented him from entering the cathedral, and asked him to pass through a metal detector first. The man entered the detector briefly, then took a step back and exploded the suicide vest he was wearing under his jacket’.
Three police officers, two men and a woman, also lost their lives preventing the bomber from entering the church.
Mr Makram said that Nasim’s actions had saved many lives, including that of Pope Tawadros, at whom he believed the attack was aimed.
‘Pope Tawadros was targeted to be killed … If this suicide bomber had been able to enter the church, the number of victims would have been more,’ he said.
ISIL claims responsibility
The Islamic State group, which in February threatened to wipe out Egypt’s Copts, claimed responsibility for the attack and warned of more attacks, saying in a statement in Arabic: ‘The Crusaders and their apostate followers must be aware that the bill between us and them is very large, and they will be paying it like a river of blood from their sons, if Allah is willing.’
Bishop Angaelos, General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the UK, lamented ‘the senseless and heartless brutality that can lead a person or people to indiscriminately take innocent lives, especially at the most vulnerable hour of prayer’.
Violence against Coptic Christians in Egypt has risen in recent years, especially since 2013, when the military overthrew President Mohammed Morsi, who hailed from the Muslim Brotherhood, and launched a crackdown against Islamists.
